Alternate Ending to The Pearl
by Long-ear Jerboa
Summary: A project I did for my english class. Please excuse horribleness. Do not own.


**This is an alternate ending that I wrote for an English Project. It's not very good because I wrote and edited it in an hour. But, here you go. There are three words I had to us from the vocabulary list, so see if you can find them.**

Continued from pg. 80

"They will be here by evening," said Kino. He looked up the long steep chimney of the cleft where the water came down. "We must go west," he said, and his eyes searched the stone shelf behind the cliff. The stone's face was smooth and unblemished. He glanced back at the trackers as Juana filled the water bottle. He set off the way they came and Juana followed quickly.

A short way from the cleft, the path had branched off in another direction. Kino walked farther and found that the way continued up the mountain. They started off, staying on the bare stone. Various parts of the mountain had slid into the pathway over time and it took a few minutes each time they encountered an obstacle to pass the supplies over to the other side. The path gradually became thinner as the sun sank lower behind the horizon. Soon, Kino was slowed to almost a stand still. Going quicker would leave evidence that they had been through and possibly cause harm.

"Maybe we should turn back," said Juana.

"No, they will see us." The trackers had probably already neared the pool. Hopefully the tracks in the sand would be dissembling enough that the trackers would stop for a few moments. Once they followed the right path, the three would be able to move faster. They carried less supplies and would be able to continually follow Kino. The night was dark and Kino had trouble finding his footing.

Struggling for a few moments, Kino found a wider part of the path. It continued on farther to open up. At the end, he found a large ledge. The path kept going up around a sharp corner. Set about a yard away was another deep crevice, shadows the only thing seen inside. It sat there as if it went on forever into the earth. Kino turned the corner and nearly ran into rubble that had blocked the path. A slab of granite and a few boulders had created a wall.

Juana went first over the rubble with Coyotito. Kino handed her supplies, having to climb up and down a few times. As he handed down the last of their belongings, he saw a small light coming the way they did. He hadn't expected the trackers to catch up to him that quickly. He made a motion with his hand to keep going at Juana and slid back down.

At the bottom, he put his back to the stone and the warmth the rock had collected during the day seeped into his back. He gripped the knife in his hand. Turning slightly, he could see the trackers rounding a corner, one holding a lighter. He was having trouble lighting his cigarette. The rifle hung loosely in his elbow. From this point, Kino would be able to attack them by surprise.

As the three men neared, Kino readied himself and the song of the family rang through his ears. The man had lit his cigarette and lifted the rifle back up by the time they approached Kino's hiding place. Kino could see the first tracker and a second later jumped out of him place around the corner. The man went down easily as Kino's knife went into the left side of his face.

Spinning around, Kino faced the second holding the rifle. He swung wildly and hit the man somewhere near the throat as a pain pierced his side. The Song of the Family was fainter now and Kino could feel the warm blood running down his stomach and back.

The third man was close behind and Kino tried to get better footing. Stepping back, he moved in a slightly undulating way, trying to keep his balance. However, the momentum carried him farther than he thought and he fell backwards into the crevice.

The fall jarred him and the rock scraped at his skin. His strength waned even more and the corners of his vision began to dot and dissolve.

Above, the man looked at Kino before turning away. Kino expected him to return with the rifle, but as the minutes slipped by nothing happened. Kino couldn't hear anything above, and took the time to survey the position he was in. One of his arms was bent between him and the granite. The other he could only lift to the height of his shoulder. He couldn't move his head from the position of looking up.

Sometime later, Kino could see movement farther up the mountain. A couple of minutes later another movement went by. He could not tell if it was Juana and the tracker or not. He slid farther down the crevice some and his ribs were confined a little more.

Out of the corner of his eye, something glimmered. The pearl sang the Song of Evil as it started to fall out of Kino's shirt. It rolled and fell, the Song drifting away as the orb disappeared down to be swallowed by the darkness.

The night wore on and Kino drifted out of consciousness. When he came to again, the sun was shining on his head and he had slid down to the point where he could hardly breathe. When he had relaxed during the night, it had been easier for his body to slide down. The wound in his side began bleeding again as he tried to move. His feet and legs had lost feeling and as he moved, he slid even farther down.

The constriction on his breathing caused a light-headedness and Kino soon slipped back into unconsciousness. Below him, the Song of the Pearl thrummed softly.


End file.
